5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Change Your Life ~ GLOBAL NEWS

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that commitment to a daily inward practice opened the door to wonderful things coming into my life. I was at the darkest hour, it was several years after I tragically lost my son and my husband, and I was plagued with feelings of hopelessness and indifference.

Timothy Ferris says in his best selling book, "The 4 Hour Work Week," that the opposite of happiness is boredom, and the opposite of love is indifference.

In that chaotic chapter of my life, I would wake up and feel no excitement, no desire, and absolutely no joy. I would hear a fearful voice in my head saying, Oh no! What are you going to do now! How will you survive? You experienced the worst that could happen and now you have to be sad for the rest of your life!

When I was faced with a career change and redefining myself I heard... You're getting older, no one will hire you! You can't start a whole new life, now!

And ladies... what about this one... You're fat in those pants! How can you stand yourself?

Does that little voice resonate within you, too? We all have one, living inside our heads. It's the voice of fear, and we will never, ever find peace in our lives if we listen to it, feed it, and give it power.

Tony Robbins says people will change when they've suffered enough. Are you there? Are you exhausted by being you? Or are you at a starting line just waiting for the bell to go off?

I remember one time, my sister said "I feel sometimes like I'm just waiting for my real life to begin." Have you ever considered that your past, no matter how difficult it was, may actually be the platform to your exciting future? I developed these 5 steps to empower your life. It was born out of my own challenges forcing me to look at a new way of life.

The 5 step process below is one way to begin your journey.

It's irresistible, isn't it? To think that you're just five steps away from designing your life, your way.

Step Number 1

Morning Flashcards

Yes! Your mind is a computer. I was shown this right after my son died. My mind began a series of flashbacks, playing over and over in my brain for months. I saw and recalled incidents that were long forgotten, until I didn't need to hold the memories in the forefront any longer. Now they are tucked away inside a folder on my brain's hard drive.

What I learned from this is how to "download" and implement resilience, creativity, motivation, and love.

You can do anything for one minute, can't you? Meditation is a time to be still. It's like prayer without words. Everyone struggles with meditation. It seems boring and impossible. Here's the truth: Expect nothing from meditation, and consistent use will give you everything.

Try to think only of breathing. Every time a thought goes in, breathe it away. Thoughts will flow in and out, in and out. Just keep redirecting your thoughts to breathing. Start with 1 minute, and go up to 5 if you like. Then take a deep cleansing breath to signify the end of meditation.

Keeping your eyes closed after meditation, follow with Morning Flashcards for your brain. Since your brain is clear and relaxed from meditation, it's ready to be programmed with good and productive thoughts.

Your brain can be programmed. So... write these words down on individual cards, then look at the word and think of something that represents each word.

Picture yourself:

Happy
Fit and healthy
Successful
In love
Giving love
Peaceful heart

Step Number 2

Template for Each Day

Every day include:

meditation/prayer/brain flashcards

exercise

mindful and enjoyable eating, meaning choose foods that are good for you and make you happy.

Friends and Family

Read at least 15 minutes per day, no matter what. Especially in the areas of mind, body, spirit, your business, or your personal interests. Don't waste time reading the entire newspaper, it will only depress you. If you must, look for the inspired stories and information pertaining to your life.

If it's a workday, make it count. Find the parts of your work that make it meaningful. Is it contact with people? Using your creative spirit to write ad copy? Designing a new program?

Down time means relaxing your brain. A lot of people use television to do this, but this is actually stimulating. Try something that doesn't take too much thinking. When my son died, I did gardening or painting. It was soothing and brought peace to my thoughts

Before Bed, have gratitude for the day and ask for peaceful, restorative sleep.

Gandhi said "We must BE the change we want to see in the world."

Being consistent with this template will change you and change those around you.

Step Number 3

Create the Soundtracks of Your Life

I think just about everyone has an iPod, MP3, iPad, or at least access to iTunes on their computer. Music is a gift of life. From the beginning of time we, as people have been singing, humming, chanting, whistling, playing instruments, or playing music. There's a reason. It balances the soul. Rhythm is in your being. Just listen to your heart, or your breathing, or watch how you blink. It's involuntary, but it's there.

Mary Carden, a teacher of the Carden method puts everything to music for children to learn. Even numbers have a rhythm.

For this reason, give yourself the gift of creating your soundtracks. iTunes makes it so easy. There are other programs out there too. I have my morning soundtrack that gets me pumped up for the day.! It begins with Black Eyed Peas singing "I Got A Feeling."

Sales experts will tell you to play a song before you make the "big pitch." It get's you energized! Excited! Feeling powerful! You're in rhythm and that makes you attract people to your rhythm!

When I'm frustrated, my soundtrack begins with "Let it Be."

When I'm feeling romantic, my soundtrack begins with Peter Gabriel singing "The Book of Love."

When I'm writing, my guilty pleasure is opera. Because it's in Italian, the words don't distract me, but the music is inspiring!

Step Number 4

Defining Moments

What personal life experiences have defined who you are?

Write down moments that were positive and moments that were negative. Positive experiences might be going to college, starting a new career, meeting a significant person in your life. Negatives might be loss of a job, a divorce, or illness.

Positive:

Negative:

Now go back and list one or two words to assign the lesson learned to the defining moment. Here's a hint for finding the lesson. Say to yourself, "If I knew then, what I know now... " For instance, my daughter being born with a facial birth defect taught me the "Beauty of Imperfection."

Step Number 5

Your Table of Contents

Author, William Bridges, of "The Way of Transition" suggests creating the Table of Contents of your life. I know what mine are... do you?

List chapters from your past and your future. Some of my past chapters that were my defining moments:

Awakening to the Beauty of Imperfection (this one is about my daughter's birth)
Resilience and the Gift of Re-Inventing My Life after 50 (the loss of my husband and having to create a new career to support my family)

Some of the chapters for my future:

My Estate of Being (how I gathered together my career and my investments to create a balanced and peaceful future)
Finding Blissville

I have good news for you. Start this new practice tomorrow and in 21 days it will be a habit. Are you seeing the possibility! All things are possible! As you begin to implement these practices, you will awaken your resilience to discover inner peace, guidance, your ability to receive more abundance and success.

And let's not forget Love! The most important part of your life is the ability to give and receive love.

This is just the beginning of an new amazing life path! May it be filled with purpose and joy.

Sandy Peckinpah is the author of 6 books, is a staff writer for a magazine, and is a speaker. One of her books made it to the Grammy Ballot as a spoken word CD. She focuses on changing peoples' lives by implementing tools that help awaken inner strength, resilience, abundance, and joy. Read more at http://BreakthroughToHappy.com or http://SandyPeckinpah.com